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PHARR — The day has finally come: Barbenheimer has arrived.
With both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” opening Friday, theaters are already seeing moviegoers lining up at their doors for what fans across the country are treating as a double-feature extravaganza.
At the Cinemark Pharr Town Center, cosplaying young girls dressed in various shades of pink Thursday evening for the local premiere of the Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling film, and grabbed their snacks as they headed to their theater for the ultimate Barbie experience.
That was the vibe for 12-year-old Josie Vargas on Thursday. She walked into the movie wearing a pink cowboy hat and gloves, heart glasses, and a Barbie shirt and popcorn tin.
Among the other attendees Thursday was McAllen native Cassie Villescas, 38, who was excited to see “Barbie.”
“Because it’s from my childhood!” Villescas said enthusiastically about why she’s seeing “Barbie,” admitting later to knowing less about the other big film opening this weekend. “I don’t know anything about ‘Oppenheimer.’”
The doll has become part of the American consciousness for its place in fashion and beauty standards for young girls since 1959, and has over the decades tried to become more inclusive and diverse in culture and femininity.
In fact, that’s the basic premise of the film as the title character, Robbie playing Stereotypical Barbie, is on an existential journey of self-discovery.
For 36-year-old Adilene Salinas from San Juan, who attended Thursday’s early screening with her sisters and her niece and dressed in pink shirts to really show their Barbie spirit, she was just excited to see an iconic figure in childhood entertainment get its big screen debut.
“It’s like a staple, we grew up … playing with Barbies,” Salinas said. “It makes it a lot more fun to come to a theater versus watching it at home.”
“Oppenheimer” also opened this weekend to plenty of hype and after marketing and promotion have billed director Christopher Nolan’s latest installment as a film about how “the world forever changes.”
Based on J. Robert Oppenheimer’s efforts leading the American team that created the world’s first nuclear weapons during World War II, the all-star cast helmed by Cillian Murphy in the eponymous role features the man called the father of the atomic bomb and the torment he incurred in the aftermath.
In an email Tuesday, Cinemark Holdings Inc. referred to Oppenheimer and Barbie as “two highly anticipated films” that expected to pack a box office punch.
It’s also happening at a pivotal time when cinema continues to struggle competing with streaming platforms. In 2022, movies like “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” helped revive the cinema-going experience and some industry experts suspect that the Barbenheimer phenomenon may provide the same shot in the arm this year.
Managers at the Cinemark Pharr Town Center would not speak about how foot traffic is looking, but if Thursday’s opening night was any indication, both movies may also be stirring interest locally.
